Spirit
by iheartfinchel0
Summary: AU: Jake Puckerman didn't know Marley Rose when she was alive. Her death was a huge secret, and a mystery Jake wanted to find out about. Even though he never met her, Jake felt like it was his duty to find out how she was killed. He felt drawn to Marley, and more importantly, was the only one who could see her ghost. But he didn't know why.
1. Chapter 1

**If you couldn't already tell, AU fics are definitely my favorite to write. This fic is much more heavier than my last one. Based on the news of Cory's passing, it's been kind of hard to write something happy. It's not too sad, but it does deal with a character death, as you can tell from the summary. I've never written a supernatural fic like this before, so hopefully you'll like it. Also, I know I'm still writing She's The Dude, but I think I can manage writing both. And I know I said in my most recent update on She's The Dude that I won't post this story anytime soon, but I wrote more of this today, and I liked how it turned out, so I decided to post the first chapter of it. I really hope you like it too.**

* * *

Jake Puckerman sat at the kitchen table one cloudy Monday afternoon, eating his breakfast before he went to school like he did normally everyday. His eyes drifted from the waffles on his plate to the small tv a few feet away from him, which was tuned to the local news channel. Jake usually wasn't one to watch the news, but his mother loved it, and the last thing Jake wanted to do was upset her.

Suddenly, an image of a young girl appeared on the screen, and Jake instantly turned the volume up higher.

"Marley Rose, age 16, was found dead last night in the parking lot of a community theater in Lima, Ohio. The police suspect foul play was involved due to major injuries," the news reporter said.

"How sad," Ms. Puckerman said as she joined Jake in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I know." Jake frowned. "Lima's not too far, right? It's like an hour away."

"I don't think it's anything to worry about, honey," Ms. Puckerman assured. "Now get to school."

* * *

All day, Jake couldn't stop thinking about that girl on the news. He could barely focus on anything during his classes; the only thing on his mind was the beautiful girl with long flowing hair and crystal blue eyes. Jake didn't know why he felt so drawn to her. He didn't even know the girl. But there was something that was telling him that he should have known her. Or that he was supposed to know her.

During lunch, Jake got out his phone and searched the girl's name. When he typed in 'Marley Rose,' dozens of articles showed up about her death. After going through a bunch of them, Jake discovered that she was an only child, raised by only her mom. She went to McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, and was one of the sweetest girls you would ever meet-according to her mom. The next article Jake read said that it was confirmed that she had been murdered. He couldn't believe how someone so beautiful and sweet could get brutally killed. Now he wanted to know more about her.

"Hey dude," Jake's best friend Ryder Lynn joined him by his locker.

"Hey man. Did you hear about that girl who was killed on the news?" Jake asked.

"Oh yeah, my mom was watching that. I think her name was like Mary or something. She was super hot."

"It's Marley," Jake muttered. "And really? That's all you gathered from the story? That she was super hot? Don't you even care what happened?"

"Yeah, it's sad, whatever, but it's not like we knew her." Ryder shrugged. "She was probably one of those mega popular mean girls who everyone hated. She probably deserved it."

"I'm going to go." Jake sat up and left before he got more tempted to punch Ryder. Sometimes he didn't even know why he was friends with the guy. Ryder was the exact opposite of Jake. Jake was quiet, didn't have a lot of friends, and was really into music, whereas Ryder was loud, arrogant, a sports fanatic, and was wildly popular. In fact, the only thing the two boys had in common was their mutual love for Call Of Duty.

The only place Jake could really be alone was in one of the stalls in the boys bathroom. Once he locked himself in, he took out his phone again and searched for pictures of her. He felt kind of guilty that he was practically stalking the girl, but he wanted to know more about her. He wanted to know why someone so heartless would kill her.

Jake had a hard time finding pictures of her, other than the one photo used on the news. There was only one other picture of her that he could find. It was of Marley and a blonde girl, who appeared to be having some sort of celebration, for they were both wearing party dresses. Jake clicked the link to the photo, which brought him to the blonde girl's facebook wall. Kitty Wilde was the her name. Jake was about to search more about this Kitty girl, when the bell rang for his next class. Jake groaned, shut off his phone, and headed to chemistry.

* * *

When Jake got home later that day, he quickly ran up to his room and turned his tv on to the local news station, hoping to hear more about Marley. Lucky for him, Marley's story was the only major news, because the news station only focused on Ohio, and well, not much goes on there.

The news reporter was currently talking to an older woman, who appeared to be Marley's mother. The woman was crying; Jake couldn't even imagine the pain she was going through. From what he had read, Marley was the only thing Ms. Rose had left.

Ms. Rose talked about how wonderful her daughter was. She talked about how she wanted to be a famous singer when she grew up, and how she loved music. Jake muted the tv to look on YouTube to see if he could find any videos of her singing. He almost jumped for joy when he actually found one. It was from a few years ago, and it had both Marley and Kitty singing _Part Of Your World_ from _The Little Mermaid_. Jake's heart stopped when he heard Marley start to sing. She was amazing. Kitty was pretty awesome too, but Jake could only focus on the brunette.

Suddenly, Jake started to feel sick. He realized that this girl would never become a singer. She would never get to be famous. She didn't deserve this. From everything Jake gathered, Marley seemed like an amazing girl.

Jake couldn't even believe that this girl that he had never even met, and that wasn't even alive anymore, could have such an effect on him. It was crazy. He didn't know why this was happening. The more Jake found out about Marley, the more he felt connected to her. He just wished he had gotten the chance to know her before she was killed.

* * *

**So, uh, do you like it? I had this plot in my head for the past few days, and I just needed to write it down. What I'll probably do is do alternate updates, where like, one week is this story, and one week is She's The Dude, but I don't know. It depends on whenever I have time to write. I still don't really know where I'm going with this story, so bear with me. It could end up getting really crazy. But it's A/U, so what else can you expect? Anyways, stay tuned!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Get ready for some craziness.**

Jake suddenly awoke to the sound of loud, booming thunder that seemed to fill his whole room. He always hated thunderstorms. The thunder mixed with the sound of rain beating on his window made it impossible for him to fall back asleep. A flash of lightning appeared, and Jake could almost swear he saw a figure standing in his room.

_No way_, he thought. He was probably imagining it, still being half asleep and all. He brought his pillow to the top of his head to try to block out the noise and attempted to go back asleep. Unfortunately, that didn't work so well. When the next flash of lightning hit, Jake groaned and threw his pillow across the room. Then he heard a sound. It was so quiet, he almost missed it. It sounded like a small gasp that definitely didn't come from him.

Jake turned his lamp on, thankful that the power hadn't gone off yet. He looked around the room, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He shrugged and climbed back into bed, letting sleep finally overtake him.

* * *

Jake woke up a few hours later to the sound of his alarm clock. He had never been so happy to hear the damn thing. He opened his eyes and screamed. And it was not a manly shout. Oh no. This was a full-fledged girly shriek. And why? Because right in front of him was the girl on the news. The girl who took over Jake's thoughts for the past twenty-four hours. The girl who was supposed to be dead.

"What the hell!" Jake shot out of bed.

"You can see me?" Marley asked.

"This is a dream. I'm still sleeping." Jake slapped himself repeatedly, urging himself to wake up.

"I can't believe you can see me!" Marley exclaimed.

"No I can't," Jake snapped. "This isn't real. You're dead."

"How do you know who I am?"

"I-I saw you on the news," Jake stuttered. "You were, you were murdered."

Marley's striking blue eyes widened. "I was?"

Jake just stared at her. "You don't...remember?"

Marley shook her head. "The last thing I remember is coming home from my drama class. The next thing I know, I'm trying to talk to my mom, but she can't see or hear me. W-What happened to me?"

"I don't know. All I know is that you were killed a couple days ago," Jake said.

"I don't recognize you from anywhere," Marley stated. "Who are you?"

"Um, my name is Jake Puckerman. I live in Toledo, which is like an hour away from where you live." Jake still couldn't believe he was talking to a ghost. This _had_ to be a dream. Right?

"How come you can see me and my mom can't?" Marley asked, her voice cracking a bit. Jake could even swear he saw tears in her eyes. But that was impossible. Marley was a ghost. Ghosts couldn't cry, could they?

"I-I don't know, Marley," Jake said. "Maybe I have some supernatural gift or something. Like that lady on that Ghost Whisperer show. I didn't even believe in ghosts until, well, this." At this point, Jake knew he couldn't be dreaming anymore. He had pinched himself so many times, multiple bruises were forming.

"You said I was murdered, right?" Marley asked. A terrified look was etched on her face. "Who would want to kill me?"

"That's what the police are trying to figure out. You're sure you don't remember anything from that night?"

"Nothing." Marley frowned. "I can't believe I'm actually dead. I had so much in my life to look forward to. How could someone do this to me?" She started to sob heavily.

_Great_. It was hard for Jake to see regular girls crying, but witnessing a dead girl crying was a hundred times worse. He brought his hand up to attempt to pat her on the shoulder, but his hand sunk right through.

"Whoa," he said. "Did you feel that?"

"No," Marley said as she brought her hand the middle of Jake's face. It went straight through as well. "Did _you_ feel that?"

Jake shook his head. "No."

"Jake! You better get to school before you're late!" Jake's mom yelled from downstairs. Jake almost forgot he had school.

"I'll be right down!" Jake shouted back. He turned back to Marley and was about to say something, but she had vanished.

* * *

Jake had been at school for almost half the day and still no sign of Marley. He actually hoped she would come back. He was still kind of in shock about how he could actually communicate with her, but it was definitely the coolest-and weirdest- thing he had ever experienced.

When Jake got home later that day, he found Marley sitting on the couch in the living room.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked as he put his backpack down.

"Look what I can do." Marley stared at the tv and squinted her eyes. Suddenly the tv turned on, startling Jake.

"Whoa." He took a step back. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know, but isn't it cool?" I guess since I'm a ghost, I have powers or something," Marley figured.

"Were you here the whole day?" Jake asked.

A sad look graced upon Marley's face. "No," she admitted. "I went to see my mom."

Jake walked over to the couch and sat next to her. "How is she?"

"She wouldn't stop crying. I kept on telling her, you know, I'm here, and everything's okay, but she still kept crying. I hate seeing her like this."

"But Marley, everything's not okay," Jake sighed. "You're dead. There's no coming back."

"You're wrong!" Marley shrieked, causing all the books on the bookshelf to fly across the room.

"Marley, wait," Jake ran over to her. However, right when he got close to her, she disappeared.

"Ugh!" Jake groaned loudly._ Why me?_ He thought. He had no business in this girl's life-well, death. He didn't even know her. And he definitely didn't know how to handle real girls, let alone dead ones. Hopefully she would let off some steam and come back, because he really did like her.

Jake calmly walked up to his room, deciding that a nice violent game of Call of Duty would take his mind off of this. He opened his door and immediately saw what was now a disaster area. And he had not left it this way when he left it. He spotted Marley in the middle of his room. It seemed like she was controlling all the objects that were flying across the room. All of Jake's papers, books, CDs, and his toy action figures from when he was a kid, were flung in all directions.

"Marley, stop!" He shouted, but the girl didn't seem to hear him. "Marley!" He ran over to her, finally catching her attention. Jake took a step back when he saw the expression on her face. She looked angry. Very angry.

"Marley, why are you doing this?" Jake shouted.

"This shouldn't be happening!" She finally said. "I should be alive."

"Look, can you please put your magical ghost powers on hold for a second and talk to me?"

Suddenly, all the objects that were previously flying across the room all dropped to the floor. Marley fell back on Jake's bed. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

Jake joined her on the bed. "It's okay. It was actually kind of cool how you did that. It was like a tornado."

Marley cracked a smile. "I didn't mean it to get out of hand. It's hard to control these ghost powers. I didn't break anything, did I?"

Jake chuckled. "No, I don't think so."

"Okay good."

"Look, Marley," Jake started, taking a deep breath. "I know this is a hard thing to accept, but you're going to have to deal with this."

"I know," Marley whispered. "I just can't believe it."

"Me neither." Jake shook his head. "But now we have to find out who killed you. That person is still out there and we have to find them before they kill someone else."

"I just don't know who would ever do that," Marley said. "Lima's a really small town. I know everybody there. It doesn't make sense to me how someone could do something so horrible."

"Everybody has secrets," Jake said. "Even the person you know the most might be hiding something huge from you."

"You don't think my best friend would kill me, do you?" Marley turned to Jake, her face looked down right terrified. "Kitty would never do that."

"I-I don't know."

"No, she's my best friend. We had fights and stuff, but she would never go that far. We were like sisters."

"I'm going to find this out," Jake assured her.

"How? You don't live in Lima. Nobody knows you there."

"I don't care," Jake blurted out. "I want to help you. I want to go to Lima to get answers."

"Why are you doing all of this, Jake?" Marley asked. "I'm just a stranger to you."

"Because it must mean something if I'm the only person that can see you. It's like, I'm supposed to help you. There must be some reason why I can see you, and I'm still trying to figure that out. But I want to solve this murder. I _need_ to solve this murder."

Marley looked at Jake with tears in her eyes. " Nobody's ever cared about me this much," she said. "Thank you."

"Anytime." As Jake looked into her eyes, something changed. He knew he was drawn to her, but this was a completely different feeling Jake couldn't describe. He _knew_ there was a reason that no one else could see her except him. And he wanted more than anything to find out why.

* * *

**Let me know what you think about this chapter in the reviews! It really makes my day. Stay tuned for the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry these updates aren't very long. It was either a shorter update today, or a longer one next week, and I didn't want you guys to wait that long for another chapter. Anyways, hope you like this chapter :)**

The first thing Jake saw when he woke up the next morning was Marley standing right over him. It looked like she had been standing there for a while, based on the bored expression on her face.

"Finally you're up!" Marley exclaimed.

"How long have you been watching me sleep?" Jake asked, feeling a little bit like Bella Swan.

"A while," Marley said. "Apparently ghosts can't sleep."

"That sucks," Jake said. "Anyways, I was thinking that today I should drive to Lima and, you know, maybe find out some more information or something."

"I still can't believe you're willing to go to Lima just for me." Marley shook her head.

"Stop saying that, Marley. I really care about you."

"Well if you're going, I'm coming with you."

"I was kinda hoping you would anyway." Jake finally got out of bed and headed downstairs to eat breakfast.

When Jake got down to the kitchen, his mom was already at the table, watching a rerun of CSI on TV.

"Hey, sweetie, I made you some pancakes if you want," Ms. Puckerman said joyfully. "And I was thinking we could do something together today."

Jake frowned. He never lied to his mom. Ever. But he _needed_ to visit Lima, and he couldn't tell his mom about this. She just wouldn't understand.

"Um, actually mom, my friend Ryder and I are working on a school project and I need to go to his house today." _Hmm. Not bad for his first real lie._

"Oh, alright. Maybe next weekend then."

"Sounds good." Jake grabbed a pancake and headed out the door. "I'll see you later!" He shouted as he closed the door behind him. He was so glad that his mom didn't know Ryder's mom.

Jake got to his car and climbed in. He backed out of the driveway and starting heading in the direction towards Lima. Minutes later, Marley appeared next to Jake, startling him a bit. He still would never get used to that.

"You should talk to Kitty first," Marley said. "She probably knows the most. She was the last person I remember seeing before I died."

"Okay." Jake nodded.

"Just be warned, she does have a temper. Don't push her too hard," Marley said.

Jake nodded once again and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the drive.

* * *

"Kitty lives right here," Marley said an hour later, pointing to a simple red brick house, identical to all the other ones on the street.

Jake parked his car and walked up to the door, taking a deep breath as he rang the doorbell. He honestly didn't know what to expect with this girl.

Seconds later, a pretty blonde girl came to the door. Jake noticed she had huge dark circles under her eyes, probably from lack of sleep and crying so much. "Can I help you?" She asked, her voice sounding hoarse.

"Just tell her the truth right away," Marley said, appearing next to him. "She hates people who don't get straight to the point."

Jake turned his attention back to Kitty. "Look, I need to talk to you about your friend, Marley."

"Marley's dead," Kitty said in a hard voice.

"Yeah, I know," Jake said. "Can I come in please? I really need to talk to you."

"I don't even know who you are," Kitty said. "Why should I let you in?"

"Just tell her," Marley spoke up. "She believes in supernatural stuff like this."

"Um, okay, my name is Jake Puckerman, and this is going to sound really weird and freaky, but I can see Marley's ghost," Jake said, all in one breath.

Kitty's eyes widened. "Come in," she whispered as she pulled Jake by his sleeve into her house.

"You believe me?" Jake asked as Kitty pulled him upstairs, but she remained silent. Kitty opened the door to her room and ushered Jake inside.

All around Kitty's room, there were framed pictures of herself and Marley. They were both smiling in every single one.

"One time I went to this Medium when my grandma died," Kitty finally spoke. "She told me my grandma was here, and she spoke to me through her. I believed every word she said."

"I'm not a Medium," Jake said. "I didn't even believe in ghosts before I saw Marley. But for some reason I do. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I do. I promise I'm not lying to you."

"Is she here right now?" Kitty asked, her voice cracking.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, she is."

"Tell her I miss her," Marley said, her voice cracking as well.

"Marley misses you a lot," Jake told Kitty.

"D-Does she know who killed her?" Kitty asked. "Ask her what happened."

"Marley doesn't know. She doesn't have any memory of how she died."

Kitty finally let a tear escape down her pale cheeks. "I can't believe she's gone."

"I know." Jake put a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"How can you even see her? You don't even know her." Kitty started sobbing. "Why can't I see her? It's not fair!"

"Please don't cry, Kitty," Marley whispered. "I'm here. I know you don't see me, but I'm here."

"Marley doesn't want you to keep crying," Jake said. "She wants you to know that she's here, even though you can't see her."

Kitty wiped her tears away. "I'm all alone now." She sniffed.

"What about your parents?" Jake asked.

"They don't understand. They think I'll get over it in a few days."

"Well they're wrong to think that," Jake assured.

"How's my mom doing?" Marley asked.

"Marley wants to know how her mom's doing." Jake repeated back.

Kitty sighed. "I haven't seen her yet. I haven't even had the strength to leave my house yet. I can't even imagine how she's feeling, though. This whole thing is just horrible." She broke down crying again.

"It's going to be okay, Kitty," Jake consoled her.

"No it's not. My best friend is _dead_. She's gone. She's never coming back," Kitty said, her voice rising with anger.

"Kitty, I know it's hard to talk about, but do you know anyone who would want to hurt her?" Jake asked.

Kitty shook her head repeatedly. "No. Marley was never mean to anyone. I can't think of anyone who would want to hurt her."

"Look, Marley said that you were the last person she saw before she was killed. Where were you guys?"

"We, um, took this drama class at the Lima Community Theater." Kitty wiped away another tear. "Marley said she had to run to her car to get an outfit for the scene we were doing, and she never came back."

"Could it have been one of the people at the theater who did it?" Jake asked.

"I don't know," Kitty sighed again. "I mean, the girls there are competitive, but they would never go that far."

"Well do you think-" Jake was cut off by Kitty letting out a huge gasp.

"Oh my god, wait. You better talk to Tina Cohen-Chang. She and Marley had a huge fight about who would play the lead role in _Romeo and Juliet_. They both wanted to be Juliet, and Marley got the role instead of Tina."

A lightbulb went off in Jake's head. "Tina might have wanted to get revenge, so she killed Marley to get the lead role for herself."

"But Tina's not _that_ crazy. It just doesn't make sense that she would kill Marley for it. She'll just get the next lead role."

"Well, what other suspect would there be? Right now, Tina makes the most sense," Jake admitted.

"It's just too crazy. Tina was my friend."

"Friends can keep secrets from each other," Jake stated sadly.

"I need you to talk to Tina," Kitty said. "Take her out to dinner or something first. Get her to like you. Then just ask her questions about Marley. Tina's a really bad liar. You'll know the truth right away."

"Um, okay I guess. She doesn't have a boyfriend or anything or anything, right? I really don't want to cause any drama."

Kitty thought for a second. "Well, she was dating Mike Chang a couple months ago, but I think they broke up."

"You _think_?"

"No, I'm sure," Kitty corrected herself.

"Okay good. Hey, do you know if there are any hotels around here? I might need to stay here a couple nights to talk to people."

"Wouldn't your parents wonder where you are?" Kitty asked skeptically.

"I'll just tell my mom I'm staying at a friends house for a few days."

Kitty still looked unsure. "Um, you can stay with me if you want. We have a guest bedroom."

"Your parents won't mind?"

"Nah, they don't care. They both come home late from work every day anyways. They probably won't even notice."

"Thank you, Kitty." Jake smiled.

"No problem." Kitty pulled Jake into a friendly hug.

"We're going to find out who did this. Don't worry," Jake reassured her.

Kitty gave a small nod. "I sure hope so," she said sadly, tears gathering up in her eyes once again.

* * *

**Who do you think is the killer? Is it really Tina? Stay tuned ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, I'm so sorry for not updating for a while. I've been super busy planning for school, and it's going to be even harder now that school just started for me. The chapters might not be as long, but I'll try my hardest to at least update one of my stories once a week. Anyways, hope you like this chapter.**

After Jake's talk with Kitty, he called his mom and told her that he'd be staying at Ryder's house for a couple days. Ms. Puckerman was hesitant at first, but after Jake told her that Ryder was his only friend, she reluctantly agreed to let him stay.

When he finally hung up the phone with his mom, he took out the paper Kitty gave him with Tina's address on it, and drove down every single identical red brick house until he found hers.

"So you and Tina aren't on the best of terms?" Jake asked once Marley appeared in the passenger seat next to him.

Marley shook her head. "Definitely not. She can be a bit of a drama queen, but I can't imagine her ever wanting to kill someone."

"Well I guess we'll find out," Jake said as he parked his car in front of Tina's house. He gave Marley one last look before hopping out. "Wish me luck," he sighed as he rang her doorbell.

Marley giggled right as Tina opened the door. Once the young Asian girl came into view, Marley's features grew dark and she became angry. This could be her potential murderer after all.

"Sorry, we don't allow solicitors," Tina said, not even glancing at Jake before closing the door. Luckily, Jake was quick and stopped the door on his foot.

"I'm not a solicitor," Jake said. "I'm, um, one of Marley's friends. Marley Rose."

"So I guess you know what happened then, huh?"

"Yeah, I do, and you're kind of a suspect now."

Tina stared Jake down. "Don't you think you should let the police handle this?"

"All I'm going to say is that I know more than the police right now. I kind of have some...inside scoop." Jake winked at Marley.

"So why do you think I'm the suspect?" Tina asked.

"Look, do you think we can talk about this over dinner or something?" Jake smirked, turning on his charm.

Tina thought for a moment. "Well," she finally said. "I just broke up Mike, but if he sees me at dinner with you, he'll get super jealous and want me back."

"So is that a yes?" Jake asked.

Tina nodded. "Sure. You're cute enough."

Jake furrowed his eyebrows. "Uh, thanks. I'll, um, pick you up tonight at eight."

"See you then." Tina gave Jake a seductive wink and shut the door.

"Well that went well," Jake said to Marley as he got back in his car.

"Yeah," Marley said a little distantly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jake turned to look at her, but she quickly hid her face.

"Nothing," Marley whispered. "I just hope you get answers on this date."

"Me too," Jake said as he made his way back to Kitty's house. "Me too."

* * *

"Good thing I brought some nice clothes with me," Jake said as he rummaged through his small duffel bag he brought with him to Lima.

"Just be careful, okay?" Kitty said as she stood by the doorway of the guest room of her house. "Tina can be a little overly aggressive."

"I think I can handle her," Jake laughed. "She didn't seem that bad when I spoke to her."

"Well she could be hiding a huge secret."

Jake nodded. "Right."

"Is Marley here right now?" Kitty asked.

Jake looked around the room for Marley. He suddenly spotted her on his bed, looking sad.

"Yeah, she's here. She's right on the bed."

Kitty walked over to the guest bed and sat down next to her. "I wish I could see you," she sighed. "I really need my best friend with me."

"I'm always with you, Kitty," Marley said warmly. "Right here." She placed her hand on Kitty's heart.

Kitty flinched. "I-I felt that. That was her right? That was Marley?"

"Yeah, that was her." Jake smiled. "She told you that she'll always be with you."

Kitty gave Jake a tight smile and sniffled. "Well, you should, uh, probably get ready for your date." She turned around, making sure he didn't see her cry.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll see you later tonight." Jake walked out the door with Marley close behind him, leaving Kitty in the room alone with her thoughts.

* * *

"So Jake, how did you know Marley?" Tina asked when she and Jake sat down for dinner later that evening.

"Um…" Jake played around with the breadsticks on the table, not knowing how to answer. Luckily, Marley was there to save him.

"Tell her we met at acting camp when we were kids," Marley instructed.

"We, uh, went to this acting camp together when we were younger," Jake said to Tina. "That's how I know her."

"That must have been the year I didn't go," Tina muttered to herself. "So you guys were pretty good friends?"

"Yep."

Tina put her water glass down a little too forcefully and cleared her throat. "Alright, enough with the small talk. Why do you think I killed Marley?"

"Because you had a reason to," Jake said calmly. He would never get an answer out of her if he lost his temper.

"And what reason was that?"

"She got the lead in the play you guys were putting on in your drama class. You were jealous, so you wanted revenge."

Tina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I was jealous, but not jealous enough to kill her."

Jake sighed. "Look, I don't want to believe that you killed her. But right now you're the one who makes the most sense. Just don't be scared if the police question you."

"Don't be _scared_?" Tina started to raise her voice. "How can I not be scared? People are going to think I killed her and I didn't!"

"I don't think she did it." Marley appeared in the booth next to Jake. "She's a horrible liar. She would never be able to pull this off by herself. I think she's telling the truth."

"Tina, you have to swear to me that you didn't kill Marley," Jake said softly, trying to calm Tina down.

"I swear on my life," Tina said. "I would never want to hurt her."

Jake nodded. "I believe you," he finally said.

Tina put her head down on the table, staying in that position for the rest of the date. Jake sat next to her at patted her back continuously. He was glad Tina wasn't the murderer, but now it put him in a more confusing and difficult spot than ever. If Tina didn't kill Marley, who did?

* * *

**Again, sorry this chapter was so short. I'll try to update She's The Dude as soon as I can. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

After his not-so-pleasant date with Tina, Jake drove back to Kitty's house, feeling defeated. He really thought he was onto something with Tina. But now he was back to square one.

"How was your date with Tina?" Kitty asked when Jake walked in the house.

"Well other than the fact that she's kind of insane, she didn't confess to anything."

"Really?" Kitty looked surprised. "I thought she would be bawling and begging for you not to tell anyone the second you brought it up."

"Marley thinks she's telling the truth." Jake walked with Kitty upstairs to the guest room.

"I really thought it was Tina." Kitty shook her head unbelievably.

Jake sighed. "Well there's still a lot we don't know yet."

"Yeah, you're right." Kitty nodded. "I'm super tired so I'm going to go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

Kitty yawned once again. "Night."

Once Kitty went back to her room, Jake searched all around the house for Marley. Usually she followed Jake everywhere, so Jake was kind of alarmed when he didn't see her. However, figuring that she was already a ghost, she couldn't really get into much trouble.

Jake turned his light off and climbed into bed, ready for this day to finally be over. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep…

* * *

_"Please don't leave, Marley," Jake begged as Marley stepped closer to the blinding light._

_"It's so beautiful, Jake," Marley said. "I see my Grandma Rose. She's waving to me."_

_"Marley, if you leave, I'll never see you again," Jake said. "Tell me this isn't goodbye."_

_"It will never be goodbye, Jake." Marley smiled, walking right up to the brightness._

_"Marley, wait!" Jake shouted before she took another step._

_Marley turned around and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue._

_Jake took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "I love you, Marley."_

_Marley smiled knowingly. She motioned for Jake to come closer. When he did, Marley kissed him lightly on the cheek. It was so light that Jake could hardly feel it. But he did. For the first time since knowing Marley, he finally felt her touch._

_Marley giggled and took a few more steps, finally letting the light surround her form, overtaking her._

Jake jolted awake, practically sweating buckets. That had been the most vivid dream he has ever had in his whole life. Everything about it just seemed so real.

Jake looked all around the room for Marley, but she was nowhere in sight. Part of him wanted to tell her about his dream, but the other part of him was hesitant. He had confessed his love for her in the dream, after all.

Jake had kept his feelings for Marley pretty hidden. He couldn't explain it, but there was something that he felt for her. Something that was pretty intense. But there was no way she would be able to feel that way about him. She didn't have a beating heart. She wasn't able to feel, well..._love_.

But Jake _couldn't_ be in love with her. He barely knew her, and she was dead. This was just so confusing to him. He needed to talk to Kitty about it.

* * *

Jake tiptoed into Kitty's room minutes later, making sure the door didn't creak on his way in.

"Kitty?" Jake whispered, lightly tapping her. "Kitty, wake up."

"What's going on?" Kitty mumbled groggily.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"Can't it wait until morning?" Kitty moaned.

"Please," Jake pleaded. "I really need to talk."

Kitty groaned loudly and sat up in her bed. "Fine," she sighed, making room for Jake to join her.

Jake made himself comfortable on the bed as he thought of the best way to say what he needed to get off his chest.

"Well if you're not going to say anything, I'm going to go back to sleep," Kitty said, sounding irritated. "You're interrupting my beauty sleep."

"No no, wait." Jake inhaled deeply and finally spoke up.

"Is it possible to be in love with a ghost?"

Even in the darkness, Jake could see Kitty's eyes widen into saucers.

"Say something, please," Jake whispered.

"You're in love with Marley?" Kitty finally said.

"I think so," Jake said softly. "There's just...something I feel towards her that I've never felt before."

"But she's a _ghost_, Jake," Kitty said. "She can't return those feelings."

"Yeah, I know," Jake sighed. "But I can't just stop feeling this way."

"Are you going to tell her?" Kitty asked.

Jake shook his head. "No way. I can't."

"Don't you think she deserves to know?"

"Not until we solve her murder. Right now, that's what's most important."

Kitty didn't look to certain. "Are you sure about that."

Jake nodded. "Definitely. I can put away my feelings for now."

"Well if you ever need someone to talk to-" Kitty's words were cut off by a giant yawn.

"Thanks, Kitty." Jake smiled appreciatively. "You're the best."

Kitty's light snores began to fill the room. Jake chuckled and headed back to the guest room to get some sleep. Jake didn't know where Marley was right now, but he really hoped she didn't hear his and Kitty's conversation. She couldn't know about his feelings. At least not yet.

Jake laid face up in his bed as he began to think. The dream he had must mean something. It was the only dream he had ever dreamt that he could remember everything about. It was so vivid, it scared him. But Jake needed to put those thoughts aside until Marley's murder was solved. He needed to find out who killed her before it was too late.

And Jake still had no clue where Marley even was at the moment. He really hoped she was okay. Where else could she be? Jake knew he would have to search for her in the morning, but for now, he needed some sleep. She shut his eyes and wished for a normal, non-ghost dream this time.

* * *

**Let me know what you think so far in the reviews. And sorry it's so short. I don't have as much time to write now that school started. I love writing Kitty and Jake as really good, non-romantic friends. Hopefully you guys liked reading it. Oh, and She's The Dude will be updated really soon, I promise. Anyways, hoped you liked this chapter, and stay tuned for the next one!**


	6. Chapter 6

Jake woke up the next morning to the sound of police car sirens. He grunted loudly and checked his phone. It was already almost noon.

"Kitty?" Jake called as he walked out of the guest room. "Where are you?"

His eye suddenly caught the dining room window, where police cars were surrounding the house.

"Kitty?" He called again, more urgently this time. He ran out the front door, and finally spotted her.

"Kitty, what's going on?" he asked, walking up to her.

Kitty just shook her head and pointed. Jake followed her gaze, and his heart immediately dropped. He watched as a police officer forcefully pushed Tina Cohen-Chang into the back of the police car, totally ignoring her desperate wails.

"They found a broken tennis racket in Tina's room," Kitty spoke up. "There was blood on it. The police believe it's the murder weapon."

"But Tina didn't kill Marley," Jake insisted.

"I guess her ability to lie improved."

"But it doesn't make sense," Jake muttered under his breath. "Even Marley believed her."

Kitty just shrugged. "All I know is that I'm going to get that bitch back for what she did to Marley. She deserves everything that's coming to her."

"There's just something not right about this," Jake said. "I don't believe she did it."

"What, you have psychic powers now too?" Kitty asked snarkily.

"I gotta go," Jake said, and quickly left the scene. He needed some air.

After twenty minutes of walking, he finally found a small meadow. Jake sat down on the grass, trying to process all this new information, when finally, Marley appeared next to him.

Jake was pretty caught off guard. "Marley! Where were you?"

Marley looked confused. "What do you mean? I've been here the whole time. You were just on your date with Tina."

"Marley, that was _days_ ago."

"I don't understand this," Marley sighed. "But what's been happening?"

"Um…" Jake had no idea how to tell her.

"What? Tell me," Marley urged.

"The police found a broken tennis racket in Tina's room with blood covered on it," Jake said all in one breath. "They took her down to the station."

"She really did it?" Tears welled up in Marley's eyes.

"But that's the thing," Jake said. "I don't think she did."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"Can you go talk to Tina?" Marley asked.

"I can try. I can't even imagine what she's going through right now," Jake said.

Before Marley could answer back, she was suddenly hit full force with a memory of the night of her death. All she could do was watch as the events played out in front of her…

* * *

_"I still can't believe you got Juliet," Tina sneered._

_Marley rolled her eyes as she applied some light blush to her cheeks. "Tina, you'll get the next lead role. I promise."_

_"You only got the role because Mr. Schue likes you better. He can't stand me," Tina muttered._

_Marley paused to look at her frenemy. "You know that's not true, Tina."_

_Tina snorted. "Of course it is. You're his star student. You never do anything wrong."_

_"That's so not true," Marley said._

_Tina raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Name one time you did something wrong in this class."_

_Marley hesitated to answer. She knew Tina was right. "Fine, you win," she sighed._

_"Marley, it's a good thing you're his favorite," Tina said with a warm smile on her face. "I guarantee that in a year, you will be on Broadway. I can feel it."_

_Marley grinned. "You really think so?"_

_Tina nodded. "One hundred percent. Now go. It's time for your rehearsal."_

_"Okay, okay," Marley laughed, getting up from her chair. She stopped before leaving the room._

_"Hey, Tina?"_

_"Yeah?" Tina picked up Marley's blush and began applying some to her own cheeks._

_"Do you want to maybe hang out sometime?"_

_Tina gave Marley a real genuine smile. "I'd love that."_

_"Great." Marley gave Tina a thumbs-up. "I'll see you tomorrow."_

_"See you tomorrow." Tina waved as she watched Marley head out the door…_

* * *

"Marley." Jake waved his hand in front of her face for the fourth time. Marley finally came back to reality.

"Tina didn't do it," she stated.

"You're sure?"

"Positive." Marley nodded. "I just had a memory from that night. Tina and I made nice. We were going to hang out after. It was someone else. It had to be. No doubt about it"

"Is that the only memory you have?" Jake asked.

"As of now, yeah," Marley said. "Hopefully more will come back to me."

"Yeah, and hopefully you won't disappear again."

"I still don't know what was up with that. I guess another weird ghost power or something." Marley shrugged.

"Yeah, probably." Jake nodded. "To the police station?"

"Yep," Marley said, as she floated next to Jake, who was walking back to his car. "Oh, and by the way, have you spoken to your mom?"

_Crap_. To be completely honest, Jake pretty much forgot about the lie he told his mom. In fact, he had turned his phone off for the past couple days, so she wouldn't keep calling him.

"All she knows is that I'm doing a school project with my friend from school, and I'm staying at his house."

"She wasn't suspicious about it?" Marley raised her eyebrow.

"Nope. And hopefully she won't be. But that's the least of our worries for now. What's more important is that we find out who really did this to you."

"I agree," Marley said. She thought as hard as she could to come up with any more memories. Just something. Anything. But her brain was basically empty. She knew more memories would eventually come back to her, but she didn't know when. And that's what scared her the most.

* * *

**Hope you guys are liking this story so far. I'm having a really fun time writing it. I've never written a mystery story like this before, so hopefully I'm doing it right. Let me know what you guys think! Stay tuned for the next chapter :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long wait, but here's chapter 7. Hope you like it!**

Jake sat in the rusty, metal chair of the local police station, nervously twiddling his thumbs. Tina had been in the interrogation room for a couple hours now, and was most likely freaking out.

"She's going to be okay, Jake," Marley assured as she appeared in the chair next to him.

"I just don't want her to be arrested for a murder she didn't commit," Jake said. "Your killer is still out there, and he or she probably framed Tina. I think-"

Jake immediately paused when one of the police officers opened the door to called him in. The last thing he wanted was someone to see him talking to no one.

The officer motioned Jake towards Tina's room, and his heart broke the second he saw her.

Tina's eyes were puffy and bloodshot from so much crying, her mascara was running all down her cheeks, and her hair was matted and tangled. Jake wanted nothing more than to tell those stupid police officers that they had the wrong person. But then he'd have to explain why. And he _definitely_ couldn't do that.

"Jake?" Tina croaked when Jake was ushered inside the small room.

"You have five minutes," the officer grumbled, making no effort to leave. Jake figured his visit needed to be supervised.

"That racket isn't mine," Tina said. "I don't even _play_ tennis. Someone put it in my room. You have to believe me." Tina erupted into full blown sobs.

"I believe you," Jake said, trying to calm the girl down. "Once the police observe the racket for fingerprints, they're going to discover it's not yours and they'll let you go. I promise." Jake knew this wasn't a good time to be making any promises, but he needed to convince Tina everything was going to be okay.

"Times up," the officer suddenly said, and practically dragged Jake out of the interrogation room. Jake was pretty sure that had been less than five minutes.

"What are we going to do, Jake?" Marley asked when they finally left the police station.

Jake ran a hand through his short hair. "I'm not sure yet," he sighed.

"I think you should visit my mom," Marley said. "She knew a lot about my social life and anything I did involving performing. She's a total stage mom, even though she hates to admit it." Marley smiled at the memory of her childhood as a performer. She would honestly do anything to go back to those happy times.

"But I don't want to talk to her about this stuff," Jake said. "I'm sure she's still grieving."

"My mom is a very strong woman. And I'm pretty sure what she needs right now is someone to talk to about it. You need to go."

Jake nodded. "Alright then."

* * *

Jake took a deep breath before knocking lightly on Ms. Rose's front door. He jumped back immediately as soon as his knuckles hit the wood. He was starting to doubt whether or not this was a good idea.

Ms. Rose finally appeared at the door, and Jake knew there was no turning back now.

"Can I help you?" Ms. Rose asked sweetly.

"Um, if it's okay, I'd like to talk to you about your daughter Marley," Jake said nervously.

Marley's mom smiled sadly. "Of course, dear." She opened up her door and let Jake inside. "Were you two friends?"

"Um, you could say that." Jake shrugged. "My name's Jake."

"It's nice to meet you, Jake." The older woman smiled as she shook Jake's hand.

"You too, Ms. Rose."

Ms. Rose laughed. "Oh please, call me Millie."

"So, um, Millie," Jake began. "Do you know anything about what happened to your daughter?"

"I'm afraid I don't, dear," Millie sighed. "But the police suspect it was her friend Tina who did it."

"Tina didn't do it." Jake, noticing Millie's confused expression, explained further. "They found the murder weapon in her room, but it's not hers. I'm pretty sure someone is framing her."

"How could you know that?"

"Just trust me on it, okay?"

Millie sighed. "Alright."

Jake decided to go in a different approach. "Can you tell me what you know about Marley's performances?"

Millie's eyes began to light up. "Oh, Marley was just fabulous," she beamed. "We were all convinced she would make it to Broadway."

"And she was, um, found in the parking lot of the community theater, right?"

"Yes, that's right," Millie whispered.

"Was there anyone out of the ordinary that night who came to see her?"

Millie shook her head. "No, I don't think so. It wasn't even performance night. That night was just dress rehearsals."

"Is there a way I can talk to someone at the community theater? Maybe one of Marley's teachers or other students in her drama class?"

Millie nodded. "I'm sure you can."

Jake breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks." He knew that any new answers he would get would be in that theater. "I should probably get going," he said once he noticed the time. Kitty was probably wondering where he was.

"Stop by anytime, dear," Millie said kindly. "You're always welcome."

Jake thanked Marley's mother one last time and headed out the door. As he made his way back to Kitty's house, Marley suddenly appeared next to him.

"Hey, where were you?" Jake asked. "I thought you would want to see your mom."

"Wait, you already saw my mom?" Marley asked, looking startled.

"Yeah, just now."

"Ugh, it's that weird ghost thing again," Marley grumbled. "It always happens at the worst times. I wish I could control it."

"Yeah, I know," Jake agreed. Once he reached Kitty's house, he took out the spare keys she gave him, and let himself inside.

"I'm home!" Jake called out.

"In here!" Kitty replied back from the kitchen.

"Hey, I was just going to-whoa, what the hell is on your face?"

Kitty laughed and held up small jar filled with the same green goo that was on her face. "It's a mud mask. My skin has been breaking out like crazy recently."

"Oh okay. I thought some weird alien-like creature possessed you or something," Jake chuckled.

"Ha ha so funny." Kitty rolled her eyes. "So what did you do today?"

"I, uh, went to go see Marley's mom."

Now Kitty looked interested. "What did you talk about?"

"Well, she doesn't know all that much about what happened, but she said I can go to her drama class and talk to her teacher or some of her classmates."

"Yeah, that's a smart idea." Kitty nodded. "I'll come with you."

"Okay, thanks." Jake smiled. He knew he was going to get one step closer to solving this murder by going to the theater. It was the place with all the answers. Whoever had killed Marley had been there that night, probably planning it the whole time. Jake needed to find the killer fast, because he wasn't sure when he or she would strike again.

* * *

**Hey, so I'm sorry these chapters aren't very long, but I really want this story to go on for a little while, and also I don't have a lot of time to write now that the school year has started. Anyways, let me know what you thought of this chapter, and stay tuned for chapter 8!**


	8. Chapter 8

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. This is where we are going to get all our answers. Well, hopefully. And besides, there's no turning back now," Jake said as he and Kitty entered the theater. "You're sure they have class now, right?"

Kitty nodded. "Yeah."

Jake paused for a second to look at his friend. "Do you think you're ever going to take this class again?"

"I doubt it." Kitty shrugged. "I'll just be reminded of her every second here."

As if on cue, Marley appeared next to Jake and Kitty.

"Marley's here," Jake announced.

Kitty gave a small smile. "Yeah, I know," she said as she watched Jake's face twist in confusion. "I can like, feel her presence or whatever it's called," she clarified.

"Oh, okay." Jake nodded and continued walking with Kitty up the stairs to the drama classroom.

"Oh wow," Kitty breathed as they walked through the doors into the large drama room. "Just like I remembered."

"You can stay outside if you want," Jake told Kitty. "You know, if it's too much for you."

Kitty swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head. "No, I'm good. Let's do this." She walked up to who Jake figured to be the teacher, and tapped his shoulder. "Hey, Mr. Schue."

"Kitty!" Mr. Schue looked surprised. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Yeah, I know, but my friend and I need to talk to you about something."

"Is it about Marley?" Mr. Schue lowered his voice.

Kitty nodded. "There were so many people here that night. Someone must have seen who took her to the parking lot."

As Kitty conversed with her teacher, Jake walked up to some of the girls in hopes of trying to talk to them about Marley.

"Um, hi, I was wondering if you knew about Marley Rose?" he asked.

One girl snorted. "Who doesn't know about Marley Rose. She's been the talk of this town ever since she died."

"Well, do you know anything about how she died?"

The girl's tone lowered seductively. "You know, this conversation should really be done privately. How about over dinner at Breadstix?"

Jake looked over to Marley, who was hovering next to Kitty as she spoke to Mr. Schue. "Um, I don't think that's a good idea," he finally said.

"Why?" the girl demanded. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"It's, uh, complicated," he said, still keeping his eyes on Marley. She must have sensed him staring at her, because she suddenly turned around and smiled at him.

Bored with their conversation, the girl turned back to her friends and didn't speak to Jake again. By this time, Kitty was done talking with Mr. Schue, and he took his whistle and blew it loudly.

"Alright guys, we are going to take a little break," Mr. Schue announced. "Kitty needs to talk to everyone for a minute."

"Thanks," Kitty whispered to her former teacher as the teenagers all took a seat on the floor. Jake walked over to join Kitty.

Kitty cleared her throat. "Okay, so you guys all know what happened to Marley," she began. She paused as everyone nodded sadly. "Well, I think someone who belongs to this theater did it."

"Kitty, that is a very large accusation to be making," Mr. Schue stepped in.

"But it was here," Kitty stated. "Someone who was here took her to the parking to and killed her."

"The killer could have snuck in and taken her," one of the girls spoke up.

"Sugar has a point," Mr. Schue said. "I mean, for all we know Marley could have had a stalker following her everywhere."

Kitty shook her head, refusing to believe it. "What about you, Unique? You guys were kind of friends. What do you think happened?"

"I don't know," Unique sniffled. "The last time I saw her, she was getting in her costume for dress rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet."

"I'm getting a weird vibe," Marley said as she suddenly appeared next to Jake, startling him slightly.

Jake quickly excused himself to the bathroom so he could talk to Marley without anyone giving him weird looks.

"What do you mean?" he asked when they were alone.

"In that room, something didn't feel right. I don't know, I can't really explain it," Marley said, shivering a bit. "But I think someone in there knows something and isn't telling us."

"Let's go back in," Jake said. Marley nodded and followed him back into the room.

"Come on, guys!" Kitty was yelling as Jake and Marley walked back in. "Someone in here _had_ to have seen something. The theater was crowded that night. There had to have been a witness!"

One of the girls-Sugar- spoke up again. "I don't know, Kitty," she said, wiping a tear away.

"I can't take this anymore," Kitty sighed, rubbing her temples. She grabbed Jake's arm and pulled him out of the room. "Let's go home."

"Thanks again," Jake said to Mr. Schue before Kitty dragged him out. Marley glanced back one more time at her former classmates before vanishing once again.

* * *

"Marley told me when we were in your class she was getting a weird vibe there," Jake said once he and Kitty got home.

"Really?" Kitty asked. "Is she here right now? I want to know what she thinks."

"Tell her what I told you earlier," Marley said. "That I think someone in there knows more than they're telling us."

Jake relayed Marley words back to Kitty, who began to nod.

"Yeah, I think so too," she said. "But who?"

Marley just shrugged.

"She doesn't know," Jake said. "But we can go back tomorrow if you want."

Kitty shook her head violently. "No way. I'm not going back there. It was way too hard."

Jake nodded understandingly. "Then I guess we can meet up with some of your friends in the class. Ask them what they know."

"They're _not_ my friends," Kitty muttered under her breath. "If they were, they'd tell me everything they know about Marley."

"Tell her to go to sleep," Marley advised Jake. "Kitty gets really grumpy when she's tired."

"Marley wants you to go to sleep," Jake said. "She doesn't want you to be grumpy."

Kitty smirked. "Same old Marley. Always looking out for me."

"You should listen to her."

"Shut up," Kitty rolled her eyes jokingly. "See you tomorrow." She ran upstairs and retreated to her room.

Jake decided it was a good idea to get some sleep as well. As he climbed into his bed, Marley hovered next to him, scaring him once again.

"You really gotta stop randomly popping up without warning me first."

"Sorry," Marley chuckled. She disappeared and reappeared again next to Jake in his bed.

"Do you think we'll ever find my killer?" she asked softly.

Jake turned to face her. "I promise we will."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," Marley whispered.

"Hey." Jake reached out to touch Marley's hand, even though he knew his hand would just go right through hers. "I won't give up until we find out."

"Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Ghosts aren't supposed to have one, right?"

Jake furrowed his brow. "Have what?"

"A heart."

"A heart?" Jake repeated. "No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Because I...feel something in here." Marley pointed to where her heart would be if she were alive.

"What do you feel?"

"I feel..._love_," she whispered.

"L-Love?" Jake stuttered.

Marley nodded. "I-I think I love you. But I don't know how that's even possible."

"I don't know either," Jake said, still kind of in shock. "But I don't know how it's possible for me to talk to ghosts, so I guess we're both pretty special."

Marley giggled. "Guess so."

A comfortable silence washed over them for a few minutes.

"I love you too," Jake suddenly blurted out.

Marley looked at him, her glassy blue eyes piercing into his chocolate brown ones. "Really?"

Jake nodded without hesitation. "I was too afraid to tell you, because I was sure you weren't capable of feeling anything back."

"But it's impossible for us to be together in any way," Marley said sadly.

"Unless I die too." Jake shrugged.

"That's _not_ happening," Marley said firmly.

"But I would die for you, you know," Jake said. "If it meant being with you forever."

"You're such a cheeseball." Marley giggled. "Get some sleep."

"Okay, fine," Jake laughed. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Marley repeated as she watched Jake close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep.

* * *

Jake awoke the next morning to the sound of wailing ambulances. He got out of bed and looked out the window. He was shocked to see that the ambulances were all parked on Kitty's street.

Kitty!" Jake yelled, running as fast as he could down the stairs. He had a horrible feeling in his gut that something was wrong. "Kitty, where are you?"

Jake ran out the front door and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Kitty standing across the street. However, his smile quickly faded away when he saw her tear-streaked face.

"It's Tina," Kitty choked out. "She's dead."

* * *

**Whoa, what?! Cliffhanger! **


	9. Chapter 9

Kitty's words took over Jake's thoughts that night.

_"It's Tina…. She's dead…._

_No_. There was no way. She couldn't be dead. He had just seen her. It _couldn't_ be true. But seeing the paramedics roll Tina's lifeless body into the ambulance just proved that it was real.

"The cops said it appeared to be murder," Marley said as she joined Jake in his bed, hovering over his mattress. "There was a stab wound in her side from a sharp knife."

"Do you think it was the same person who killed you?" Jake spoke up for the first time since finding out about Tina.

Marley nodded. "It must have been."

"Have you seen Tina at all?" Jake asked. "Can you see other ghosts?"

"No," Marley said. "I haven't seen her. Or any other ghosts."

A sick thought came across Jake's mind. "Do you think Tina knew something? Like, maybe she knew who killed you, and the killer wanted to get rid of her before she told anyone."

"Maybe," Marley said, sounding distant.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this," Jake said in a hard voice.

"Jake, be careful," Marley warned. "I don't anything to happen to you."

"Nothing's going to happen to me," Jake said, convincing himself more than her. "I promise." He reached out and touched her cheek, even though he knew neither of them would feel anything.

"Get some sleep, okay?" Marley said when she noticed Jake yawning. "We'll figure it out in the morning."

Jake nodded and pulled the covers over his face, trying as hard as he could to forget the day's tragic event and fall asleep.

* * *

_Jake gets a call from Tina telling him to come over right away._

"I know what happened,"_ she says. _"I know who killed Marley."

_Jake rushes over to Tina's house as soon as he hangs up, but it appears someone is already in her house._

_"_Tina!_" Jake bangs on the window. Tina doesn't hear him. She sounds like she's crying._

_Jake then hears a voice. "_You should have left it alone," _the person says. Jake can't make out who it is._

"Please,"_ he hears Tina beg. _"Don't hurt me."

_Jake wants to run to get help. He tries to move his feet, but they're glued to the concrete. _"Tina!"_ he shouts again._

"It's too late,"_ the voice says._

"Please don't do this,"_ Tina pleads. She's sobbing._

"You've given me no choice,"_ the person says. Whoever it is is crying too._

_Jake tries to shout for help, but no sound comes out. All he could do is helplessly watch through the window._

_He sees the figure grab something. Tina screams._

"I'm sorry,"_ the figure says, and without hesitating, stabs a knife in Tina's side._

_Jake hears Tina fall onto the floor with a loud thud. Then he hears the front door open. The killer's about to run out. Jake can almost see the killer's face. The killer finally turns around and-_

"Jake, wake up!" Kitty screamed in Jake's face.

Jake jerked awake and took deep breaths. His heart was pounding in his chest. "What happened?"

"The police are here to speak with us," Kitty said.

"Okay, I'll be right down." Once Kitty left, Jake sat back down on his bed and tried to process his dream.

If only Kitty had bursted in a second later. Then he would have seen the killer's face. But would he have even been right? It was a dream. His imagination. Even if he _had_ seen the face, it probably wasn't really who the killer was. But then again, there _was_ something special about Jake. If he could talk to ghosts, there was probably other things he could do as well.

"Jake!" Kitty called. "Hurry up!"

"Coming!" Jake yelled and ran downstairs to meet Kitty.

* * *

"So what was your relationship to Tina Cohen-Chang?" A bored-looking police officer asked.

"She was my friend," Kitty answered. "We took a drama class together."

The officer focused her attention to Jake. "And you?"

Jake cleared his throat. "Well, Officer Parks," he said as he looked down at her name tag. "She was my friend too. I didn't know her as long as Kitty did, but we were pretty close. I believed her when she said she didn't kill Marley."

Officer Parks nodded. "I see. Now we suspect that Miss Cohen-Chang's killer is the same person as Miss Rose's. Is there any information the two of you can give us?"

Jake thought back to his dream. He knew it obviously wasn't reliable evidence, but it was something. It was so vivid, it _had_ to mean something.

Kitty shook her head. "I don't know anything. We're still trying to find out."

"What about you, Mr. Puckerman?"

After a few seconds of hesitation, Jake finally spoke. "I don't know anything either," he said, deciding to keep his dream to himself-at least for now.

Officer Parks said goodbye and left soon after, leaving Jake and Kitty alone with their thoughts.

"We really need to catch this person," Jake spoke up after a long time of silence.

"Jake, whoever it is, they're probably going to be after us next. I think we should let the police handle this now. It's getting really dangerous."

"No way," Jake said firmly. "I'm not giving up until we solve this."

"Jake, open your eyes!" Kitty shouted, catching him off guard. "You're risking your life. You have a family back home. What's going to happen when your mom finds out you were killed trying to chase the murderer of a girl you don't even know?!"

"I'm supposed to be doing this," Jake said quietly. "There _must_ be a reason I'm the only one who can communicate with her."

"Well I'm not going to stand around and watch everyone around me die," Kitty said angrily before running upstairs to her room and slamming the door behind her.

Jake decided to leave Kitty alone to blow off some steam. He walked out the front door and contemplated what to do next.

As Jake sat on the front steps outside Kitty's house, his phone started to ring.

"Hey mom," he answered after looking at the caller ID.

"Jake, how are you? I haven't spoken with you in such a long time! How's your project with Ryder?"

Jake almost forgot about the lie he told his mother. He still felt horrible about it. "It's uh, going good. We're, um, going to a bunch of cities in Ohio to find all the, uh, national parks for our project."

"Oh, that sounds fun, sweetie," Ms. Puckerman said cheerfully. If only she knew what Jake had really been doing all this time.

"Yeah, it is."

"But when are you going to be back, sweetie?" she asked. Winter Break ends next week."

"I know, mom, I'll be back soon," Jake said. "I, um, have to go. I'll call you soon, okay?"

"Okay, have fun."

"I will. Love you. Bye." Jake hung up and came face to face with Marley.

"Was that your mom?" she asked.

Jake nodded.

"You should really tell her the truth. Just incase something, you know, happens."

"Yeah, I know." Jake hung his head in shame. "She's going to kill me."

"Nice choice of words," Marley chuckled.

"Oh, shit, sorry," Jake held in a laugh. "I didn't mean that. "

Marley laughed along with him. "It's okay."

Jake stopped in his tracks once he reached Tina's house. For the past couple of hours, police cars have been surrounding the house, but for now, there were no signs of them anywhere.

"Where did all the police cars go?" Jake asked Marley.

"I'm sure Tina's parents asked them to leave," Marley figured.

"I think we should go inside and check her room for evidence or something," Jake said. "Maybe she does know something we don't."

"That's a really risky plan," Marley said, her voice laced with concern. "And besides, I'm sure her parents aren't going out anytime soon."

"The killer must have known that Tina was onto them. There has to be something in Tina's room. Some type of evidence against them. Something that would make the killer feel threatened by Tina, and killing her because of it."

"How are you going to get Tina's parents out of the house, though?" Marley asked.

Jake sighed. "I have no idea.

"I do," Marley said, her face lighting up. "They're holding a memorial for Tina tomorrow evening. Everyone in town's gonna be there."

"But I should really be there too," Jake said.

"I'm sure Tina would rather have you find out more clues on both our murders. And I don't think you'll have any other time alone at her house besides then."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Jake nodded.

"Are you going to take Kitty with you?"

"Nah, she seems kind of angry with me. And I don't want to put her life in any danger. i guess it's all up to me now."

"You're so brave," Marley said. "Just don't die, okay?"

Jake laughed. "I'll try not to."

"Okay, good," Marley said, her eyes twinkling. "I _really_ hope we find something at her house."

"So do I," Jake said as the two of them walked back to Kitty's house. "So do I."


End file.
